


its greatest hope

by songstress



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9624266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songstress/pseuds/songstress
Summary: Bail sends Leia to Obi-Wan.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [magnetgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetgirl/gifts).



Bail had been a revolutionary fighter his whole life.

He had seen one of his best friends, his closest political ally, die of heartbreak. (Though he personally always held Anakin to be culpable for her death.) He had seen other friends, too many to count, die over the years as they resisted the consummation of the Emperor’s power, his closing fist around the liberty of the galaxy. He had feared every day of every week of every year that he would come home to find that the Emperor had learned who his little daughter really was, and had sent Vader to kill her, or – worse – take her away to be brainwashed and tortured and turned into a husk of a Sith.

All that time, he had soldiered on with only one hope: to live long enough to see Vader dead and the Emperor destroyed, and his little Leia alive and well.

He’d never really thought he’d live that long. But it was enough to live every day doing all that he could to further that dream; to protect Leia, yes, but also to train her with every tool in his possession and every scrap of his love, train her to be able to protect herself, in case there came a day where he couldn’t.

And now, on this day, it was time.

Everyone – including Leia – thought she was going to beg Obi-Wan’s help, to bring him back to fight Vader and be a valuable ally on their side. That was partly true. Bail remembered Obi-Wan with some fondness, and a Jedi was certainly an ally they could well afford to have.

But he wasn’t actually sending Leia to Obi-Wan because he needed Obi-Wan.

He was sending Leia to Obi-Wan because he needed Obi-Wan to have Leia.

It was time. 

Bail could remember like it was yesterday holding his newborn daughter in his arms. She had only ever been his daughter, never Vader’s. It had been him that she had loved, him that taught her to talk and walk and debate and fight for justice, him that had protected her against the galaxy. It was because of him that she had the tools, the skills, and the experience to step out on her own, to fly free and take up her heritage as a Jedi. 

He would be afraid for her, every moment of every day that he lived. A Jedi, the daughter of Vader? She would be the biggest target in the galaxy.

But she would also be its greatest hope.

And that was enough for Bail.

"Goodbye, Leia," he said softly, and held her close one last time.

-&-


End file.
